Leaving the theater, my disappointment with X-Men: Apocalypse felt very strange to me. In fact, I’ve never felt so simply weird about a superhero movie in my life. After some reflection, I finally realized why that was. Apocalypse is just like a comic book, and that’s why it sucks.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is the finest film of the franchise yet. It focuses on only the absolute best things that the X-films have offered over the past 14 years, and does so with intelligent balance, poise, and a budget that’s FINALLY worthy of a superhero franchise. (Thanks for finally coming around on that, Fox.) Aside from how effortlessly its massive scope is handled, the most impressive thing about the film is how human its story is. Yes. The fate of…

I’m glad THE HUNGER GAMES is so popular. I’m glad for two reasons. The first is that Katniss is a well realized, strong, female protagonist, and we can’t really get enough of those right now. Hollywood needs to get over its chauvinist assumption that woman aren’t bankable heroes. The second reason, is that at its core, the series seems to be a sobering allegory for the extent of debauchery and entitlement that modern America seems headed towards. We can’t get enough of these right now either, as the First World…